We are Grateful and Honored to be recognized:

“Wonderful” Isaan-style Thai dishes with "intense", “complex flavors” emerge from the kitchen at this “warm, friendly” cash-only duo in Linda Vista and Rancho Penasquitos with "bare-bones" decor and modest tabs; just “order wisely" since the spice levels are "plenty hot."

Zagat reviews are compiled from individual user reviews.

https://www.zagat.com/r/the-original-sab-e-lee-san-diego

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Try This: The Original Sab-E-Lee’s Larb

By Darlene Horn | October 22, 2014

The Original Sab-E-Lee in Linda Vista scores high with food in the last Zagat survey. With 27 out of 30 possible points, this tiny eatery may be lacking in ambiance but has a faithful following who doesn’t mind the cash-only requirement. Curries and noodle dishes always rank at the top in customer favorites but here’s one hot dish that’s worth veering toward: larb. This Northern Thai dish is available in pork, chicken, beef, catfish, or duck. But what sets it apart is the refreshingly potent sauce of lime, chili and fish sauce mixed with the finely chopped meat. Onions and slices of raw cabbage served alongside add some crunch. Like all dishes at Sab-E-Lee, order the spiciness to your comfort level.

"Best New Ethnic Restaurant: Sab-E-Lee. This is the one that lovers of authentic (non-farang) Thai food have been waiting for. The crowded, no-rez, no-frills, BYOB mom ’n’ pop serves the fiery cuisine of Issan (northeast Thailand, on the Laos border), but these aren’t the mindless flames of culinary machismo. From under the heat rise symphonies of complex flavors. Even liver (of all things!) is transformed into a treat, and the rich, oniony tom yum soup is world-beating. After El Biz, my second-favorite meal of the year. (BTW, don’t all run there at once again, or you’ll wait hours and overwhelm the kitchen.)"

The Year in Restaurants

"Sab-E-Lee is everything that other Thai restaurants throughout San Diego are not.

This tiny, eight-table joint in Linda Vista, which bears little signage except for “Linda Foods” on the awning, specializes in the cuisine of Thailand’s northeastern Isaan region, where fiery chilies grow at the drop of a seed.

The menu provides a refreshing break from the usual colored curries and phad Thai. They’re available, but buried within a litany of Isaan specialties that expose you to things like spicy mint leaves with meat or seafood, delectable pork sausages with curry paste, steamed pork leg, raw beef with lime juice, meat jerkys and a plethora of other delights that are far removed from the Thai kitchens of Hillcrest and Downtown..."

Epicurious Eating: Sab-E-Lee Thai Food Restaurant

Capsaicin dreamland by Frank Sabatini Jr.

http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com -- Published Thursday, 04-Jun-2009

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"It’s pretty rare that I’ll eat at the same place twice in one week, yet I scheduled dinner at Sab-E-Lee and then lunch there the following day—even before I’d taken a single bite. I just had a feeling that it would be worth returning. It helped that there’d already been advance taste-reconnaissance done by a good friend, whose food blog is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to new food in town. He’d already become a regular at the Linda Vista restaurant, only a month into its existence, making multiple posts on his site and sending me a you-need-to-eat-here e-mail..."